DGCA suspends Pawan Hans helicopter services across NE

Guwahati: The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has finally suspended commercial operations of Pawan Hans helicopters across the northeastern region, a move which came only after Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu died in a chopper crash off Se La Pass in Tawang district on Saturday.
On April 19, a Pawan Hans MI-172 helicopter crashed at Naharlagun, killing 17 people on board. But the DGCA action suspending chopper services came after 11 days when the next tragedy struck - this time killing the chief minister himself.
Captain Mahal, deputy general manager (operations) of Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, said, "Yes, our operations in the northeast have been suspended following the mishap in which the Arunachal Pradesh chief minister died. The DGCA is carrying out checks and reviewss of our choppers deployed in the region. Various teams have been formed to carry out checks and I cannot relay how long this process would take."
Sources in the Arunachal Pradesh civil aviation department said the chief minister was always using a twin- engine chopper from the available fleet in the state. It was the first time that Khandu was allocated a single-engine helicopter exclusively for his use that ultimately crashed.
Pawan Hans authorities said Khandu's chopper was a new one and was given on lease to the Arunachal Pradesh government on December 5, 2010. "The brand new helicopter was acquired in mid-2010. Till date, the helicopter has flown 306 hours and done 577 landings. It has done most of the flying in the northeast," said deputy general manager (engineering) Sanjeev Razdan in a statement.
Mahal said the DGCA, among other things, would look into what went wrong with the emergency locator transmitter (ELT). "The helicopter, with the chief minister on board, was fitted with the latest ELT, which transmits signals on heavy impact. These can be picked by ISRO satellites and any other aircraft flying over it. This equipment is basically to locate the chopper in case a mishap takes place. The ELT is activated automatically and since no signals were picked up by satellites, it could be that the ELT did not activate and this is what which should be looked into," he said.
06/05/11 Times of India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General May 2011, Safety May 2011